DREAM Act coalition in D.C. today to push for passage this year

Momentum is building for passage of the DREAM Act, a piece of immigration-related legislation that would create a path toward citizenship for youths brought to the United States as children. They have known no other country. An estimated 60,000 of them could face deportation to countries they don’t know nor understand. Among them are valedictorians from San Antonio whose lives and educations have been interrupted. Too many of them, stopped for minor traffic offenses, for example, are facing deportation or are living in fear of it.

Eric Balderas, valedictorian at Highlands High School and a student at Harvard University is one of them. Yet another is Benita Veliz, valedictorian at Jefferson High School and a graduate of St. Mary’s University, whose case remains unresolved.

Such students are the core of the Development, Relief and Education for Alien Minors Act of 2009, or Senate Bill 729 and House Resolution 1751.

Today in Washington, members of a newly formed coalition of higher education officials are gathering for a call to action. Among them is Antonio R. Flores, president and CEO of the San Antonio-based Hispanic Association of Colleges and Universities.

“We are extremely concerned that the interests of many undocumented youths seem to have been forgotten in the debate for Comprehensive Immigration Reform,” Flores said in press release. “We are not in favor of having undocumented U.S. high school students wait on the sidelines beyond 2010.”

“Year after year, this issue has fallen prey to political gamesmanship,” added Gwendolyn Jordan Dungy, executive director of NASPA – Student Affairs Administrators in Higher Education. “No matter how one may feel about larger immigration issues, the DREAM Act has bipartisan support and is too important to the future of our students and the future of this nation not to be considered now. The principles are sound, and now it is time to act.”

They are in good company. Here is the list of educational groups that are members of the coalition:

 American Association of Collegiate Registrars and Admissions Officers